Dissertation Defense: Exploring the Relationships Among Impulsivity, Interpersonal Difficulties, and Social Risk-taking in Borderline Personality Disorder: Behavioural Influences and Neural Correlates
Dissertation Defense: Exploring the Relationships Among Impulsivity, Interpersonal Difficulties, and Social Risk-taking in Borderline Personality Disorder: Behavioural Influences and Neural Correlates
Gates K. Palissery
Graduate Student, Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health
Graduate Research Assistant, Chiu and Casas labs, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
April 4, 2025, at 10 a.m.
2 Riverside, Room 3012
More About the Candidate and Project
Education
Virginia Tech, Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health, Ph.D. Candidate
Carnegie Mellon University, B.S., Neuroscience, Creative Writing
Training
Graduate Research Assistant, Chiu and Casas labs, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Mentors
Brooks Casas, Ph.D., Professor, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Pearl Chiu, Ph.D., Professor, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Committee Members
- Sheryl Ball, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Economics, College of Science, Virginia Tech
- Anita S. Kablinger, M.D., Vice Chair and Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Lewis, A.S.L., O’Malley, G., Palissery, G.K., Hensley, A., Lopez Lloreda, C., Perez, C., Bueren, E.K. (2023). Flipped Science Fair invites children to judge graduate student posters through a university‑community partnership. Journal of STEM Outreach 6(1): 1–12.
Baldisimo, J., Konfesor, K., King, A.E., Lu, B., Palissery, G.K., Raghu, V., Uhelski, D., VanDiest, I. (2022). Candy Darter: background, threats, and conservation for an endangered fish. Preprint. DOI: 10.32942/X265
- Commonwealth of Virginia Engineering and Science (COVES) Policy Fellowship, Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering, and Math (2024)
- Science, Technology, and Engineering in Policy Graduate Fellow, Virginia Tech (2022-2023)
- Research!America Civic Engagement Microgrant (on behalf of the Science Policy Education and Advocacy Club at Virginia Tech), Research!America (2022-2023)
- Student of the Year in Leadership Award, Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health Program (2022)
- Marathon Coach, RunAbout Sports (2021-Present)
- Co-Founder, Flip the Fair
- Co-Founder, Biomedical Professional Development Symposium
- TBMH Program Liaison, Roanoke Graduate Student Association (2022-2024)
President, Roanoke Graduate Student Association (2021-2022) - Treasurer, Student Outreach Program at Virginia Tech-Carilion (VSOP) (2023-2025)
- President, Student Outreach Program at Virginia Tech-Carilion (VSOP) (2021-2023)
- Advocacy Chair, Science Policy Education and Advocacy Club at Virginia Tech (2023-2024)
- President, Science Policy Education and Advocacy Club at Virginia Tech (2022-2023)
- Professional Development Chair, Science Policy Education and Advocacy Club at Virginia Tech (2021-2022)
About this Dissertation
Impulsivity and difficulty maintaining interpersonal relationships (interpersonal difficulties) are two symptoms characteristic of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Past work has shown that these symptoms may have differential effects on risk-taking behaviour: impulsivity has been associated with increased risk-taking, while interpersonal difficulties has been associated with decreased trust in social contexts, which can be construed as decreased risk-taking beahviour. More work is needed to understand how these symptoms are related to monetary risk-taking in social contexts. The goal of this dissertation is to better understand the relationships symptoms of impulsivity and interpersonal difficulties have with monetary risk-taking in a social context in individuals displaying a range of BPD features (Study 1) and individuals with BPD (Study 2). This dissertation further seeks to elucidate the neural correlates of social risk-taking as they pertain to these sets of symptoms in individuals with BPD (Study 3). Study 1 finds that individuals with increased symptoms of impulsivity are less sensitive to the difference between two gambles’ risks, and individuals with increased symptoms of interpersonal difficulties are less sensitive to the difference between two gambles’ risks only in a social context. Study 2 finds that individuals with increased symptoms of impulsivity are less sensitive to the difference between two gambles’ risks, and individuals with increased symptoms of interpersonal difficulties are less sensitive to the difference between two gambles’ risks regardless of context. Study 3 finds that individuals with BPD show decreased anterior insula response to the difference in risk between the gamble they select and the unchosen gamble, though it did not find a relationship between insula response and BPD symptoms. Together, these studies show that individuals with BPD respond differently to monetary risk-taking than individuals without BPD. This work suggests symptoms of impulsivity and interpersonal difficulties may be new targets for behavioural interventions to treat BPD.